The Notebook Review forums were hosted by TechTarget, who shut down them down on January 31, 2022. This static read-only archive was pulled by NBR forum users between January 20 and January 31, 2022, in an effort to make sure that the valuable technical information that had been posted on the forums is preserved. For current discussions, many NBR forum users moved over to NotebookTalk.net after the shutdown.
Problems? See this thread at archive.org.

    RAM upgrade -confused

    Discussion in 'Hardware Components and Aftermarket Upgrades' started by Bomber-Stud, Jan 5, 2008.

  1. Bomber-Stud

    Bomber-Stud Notebook Consultant

    Reputations:
    0
    Messages:
    153
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    30
    Please see my current specs below in my sig.

    I want to add some RAM.
    I think I will add either
    1) 1x2GB (total of 3GB with my current 1GB stick)
    2) 2x2GB (remove my current 1GB stick and have total of 4GB)

    where I am confused is.. what is "dual channel"???
    from what i understand, i need 2 sticks, of equal amounts to have dual channel.. so would my 1st option above not be a good choice?

    Thanks!
     
    Bomber-Stud, Jan 5, 2008
    #1
  2. jcovelli

    jcovelli Notebook Deity

    Reputations:
    75
    Messages:
    707
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    30
    dual channel will work with one 1gig stick and one 2gig stick.. you just need to have two sticks with at least equal capacity and the same type/speed.. (pc5400 or whatever your notebook supports)

    it will automatically switch to dual channel.. so no need to change anything


    oh yeah, dual channel doubles the amount of information traveling from RAM to the memory controller to the CPU
    *so basically you double memory bandwidth
     
    jcovelli, Jan 5, 2008
    #2
  3. Tim

    Tim Notebook Virtuoso

    Reputations:
    2,752
    Messages:
    3,141
    Likes Received:
    2
    Trophy Points:
    106
    I wouldn't worry about Dual Channel. It doesn't provide much of a performance increase. Just get option number 1 and you will be fine. :)
    Tim
     
    Tim, Jan 5, 2008
    #3
  4. jcovelli

    jcovelli Notebook Deity

    Reputations:
    75
    Messages:
    707
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    30
    yeah.. back in the slower days of ram it had a pretty noticeable boost but not so much these days

    but adding more ram period will give you a big boost
     
    jcovelli, Jan 5, 2008
    #4